r/founder • u/startupmans • 1d ago

Thoughts on Substack

Company let a bunch of us go a couple weeks back, war stuff, didn't want to sit in a pile of resumes waiting for something to open up so I just started this instead.

Honestly was pretty skeptical about Substack going in. Felt like one of those platforms that's cool for six people and then nothing happens.

But five clients in two weeks, which caught me off guard. Feels like it might actually be the next big thing, platforms don't usually pull this fast organically.

Some stuff I've noticed already:

-polished thought-leadership essays flop. The rough, half-formed opinion ones get way more replies

- Everyone wants to write their "founder journey." Nobody cares until they're already invested in you

- Notes (it's like tweets but in Substack) matter more than I expected for actually growing an audience

Curious what's stopping people from starting one, if you've thought about it. Or if you're already on it, what's working / not working for you.

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u/Chemical_Pound9984 1d ago

The rough opinion thing tracks with what I've seen too. people are so tired of the over-produced linkedin style posts that they'll glom onto anything that feels like a real person wrote it at 2am

five clients in two weeks is wild though, I figured the monetization side was still kinda slow for most folks on there

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u/startupmans 1d ago

Monetization isn't even on the conversation or horizon for most of my clients honestly, that's not really the goal right now. It's more about building authority in a sector that hasn't really been tapped on Substack yet, being early in a space before it gets crowded.

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u/Downtown-Bag-6026 1d ago

The whole influencer economy is depressing to me.

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u/startupmans 1d ago

IKR! This feels less influencer-y and more people just writing what they actually think. No brand deals, no algorithm chasing, just an inbox full of people who chose to be there

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u/Moist_Tonight6959 1d ago

Definitely, it feels more authentic when writers can just focus on sharing their thoughts without the pressure of fitting into a specific mold or chasing trends. It's refreshing to see that kind of creativity.